Rethinking Assessment of Student Learning in Statistics Courses

Although much attention has been paid to issues around student<br>assessment, for most introductory statistics courses few<br>changes have taken place in the ways students are assessed. The<br>assessment literature describes three foundational elements -<br>cognition, observation, and interpretation - that comprise an<br>"assessment triangle" underlying all assessments. However,<br>most instructors focus primarily on the second component:<br>tasks that are used to produce grades. This article focuses on<br>three sections written by leading statistics educators who describe<br>some innovative and even provocative approaches to rethinking<br>student assessment in statistics classes.